NASHVILLE — U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, was among the 20 House Republicans who voted this week against a bill that would reauthorize anti-trafficking programs, including continued funding to curb child trafficking in the U.S. and in the Abroad.
The no by Tuesday’s Rome congresswoman, who last April accused Democrats of “being the party of pedophiles,” came a day after Greene lashed out at Congressional Democrats for what she called their failing, human trafficking at the US-Mexico border, including combating human trafficking of children.
“How can someone who voted Democrat not be offended by this?” She wrote on Twitter Monday after a Fox News reporter tweeted that federal sources told him there were more than half a million “known escape routes” as of early October at the border”. “Dems said they take care of children in cages [and] Migrants, but every day migrants die, women are raped and children are trafficked.
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“While Democrats are sending over $54 billion to defend Ukraine’s border and NOT our own,” Greene added.
The law, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022, was co-authored by US Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Rep. Karen Bass, D-California. Now that it passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 401-20, the Senate is expected to take it up.
In a statement Thursday to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Greene said, “In Congress, legislative titles do not always accurately describe what the text says.
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“This legislation is another attempt by Democrats to frame their Marxist policies in what should be bipartisan,” she said. “Everyone wants to end human trafficking, but this law gives preferential treatment to local authorities that work with big tech companies.
“These are the same platforms used by human traffickers to commit their heinous crimes,” she added. “I want to protect children and stop these kidnappings, but this $500 million Democratic bill isn’t enough and just throws money at the problem. If Democrats really cared about ending child trafficking, they would secure the border.”
Republican US Representatives Andrew Clyde and Jody Hice of Georgia joined Greene in voting against the measure on Tuesday. The five other Republicans on the delegation voted to reauthorize, as did the six Democrats.
All seven Tennessee Republicans, including U.S. Reps Chuck Fleischmann of Ooltewah and Scott DesJarlais of Sherwin, voted in favor of funding, as did Democrats Jim Cooper of Nashville and Steve Cohen of Memphis.
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In a later statement, Smith commended the passage of the measure, which includes other anti-trafficking programs and brings total spending to $1.1 billion over five years. Smith also sponsored the original 2020 legislation.
“The tremendous support in the House of Representatives for this important human rights and law enforcement legislation is a testament to widespread consensus and underscores the absolute urgency of securing the resources needed to protect victims, prosecute perpetrators and stop trafficking of human beings.” prevent it in the first place.” Smith explained.
Smith said the bill will also reauthorize the “amazing work” of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Angel Watch Center – a project mandated by his international Megan Act previously passed in 2016.
“The Angel Watch Center has made more than 19,000 notifications of planned travel by convicted sex offenders involving more than 7,000 people who have committed sex crimes against children who have been denied travel, helping to reduce child sex tourism,” Smith said.
Among those who voted against the law was US Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who the New York Times reported last year is under federal investigation into whether Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, violated federal sex trafficking laws and whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl.
Gaetz rejects the allegations and says he was the victim of an attempted blackmail.
After Tuesday’s vote on the human trafficking bills in the House of Representatives, Gaetz told The Hill newspaper that he voted against reauthorizing because “the government’s failure to define human trafficking accurately and specifically allows this legislation to act as a backdoor for… illegal immigration and amnesty”.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.
